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Another possibility... Perhaps rather than Bucs going through whatever people may speculate they have gone through, maybe everyone else is rising to their level on a more consistent basis. They have set the bar extremely high over the past decade and maybe it has just taken this long for everyone else to become competitive at that level. I think you can look at the last three years or so and see the improvement in design and execution from everybody else. It's not really a one or two horse race anymore. The depth of the competitive field is much, much deeper than it has been in a long time. ...and this is a GOOD thing! Makes for more enjoyable and suspenseful shows on a weekly basis. I believe ANYTHING can happen in Rochester. Remember last year? Empire came in seeded 7th and ended up 4th. What a great time to be in DCA...especially on this, its 50th anniversary! Dan

I'll never understand why, when a percussion program is weak, everyone automatically starts naming old, retired guys to fill the spot. There are always uber-talented up-and-comers who would do fantastically in those spots (given a few years to build), and it would be a lot more interesting. I wasn't happy at all when Crown hired Hannum a few years ago, or Kuhn at Phantom... they could have given a new guy a chance to shine, but instead, it's just the G7 recycling the same few names over and over and over...

Yes...we are told to stay off DCP. I see no problem with that. Most of the people here are trying to egg us marching members on anyway! I'm not falling for it! I do not represent my corps. ONLY my corps admin represents my corps. Official statements from my corps comes from my admin. I am a member of my corps, and even though my comments or opinions do not reflect the general consensus of the admin of the corps, we are instructed to stay off. We are told that comments may be seen as disrespectful, even if we are defending our own corps. So we are told not to respond. Again...I see nothing wrong with that. But people would be lying if they don't come here to read the comments. I do! I read some of them and just laugh! I appreciate the reviews, and I appreciate the good and bad comments. Then I sign off, and keep my thoughts to myself. Then go on the field every weekend and do the best show possible. And I am having the time of my life doing it!

That second line applies to a relatively small percentage for one reason or another. And no one more than Red. We always kid about the "great drum corps in the sky" Tonight I'm seriously praying there is one. We've lost way too many of the greats over the past weeks/months/ couple of years. Way too many.

I think it would be panned.

Fred, in spirit I agree with you. But i've seen first hand the damage posts on here, RAMD etc can do inside a corps as well as between corps.

I should have prefaced what I meant. Cabs I am more than certain will be coming into this show 12 cylinders a blazing. As I am certain so is Bucs. So I don't think they will be timid coming to Bucs home turf. Bucs have home crowd advantage but in my opinion I don't think that will matter this season. It will be either corps' momentum on the field that will make the difference and Cabs certainly do have the momentum. I did catch the Fan Network of Scranton and I have to say Bucs have come a long way since GP. But I'm in awe of Cabs. They have added a lot more since I saw them last and they are just on fire. This is by far the most exciting season for DCA in years. It is great to see all the corps stepping it up. It gets somewhat boring to see one or two corps doing well for so long. Much kudos to everyone top to bottom.

We will all remember Red as a man of great leadership ability and unquestionable integrity. He was admired universally in the drum corps arena.

The Troopers stylistically provide the diversity that DCI needs more of, not less of, imo. I'd imagine that the LAST thing appreciative fans would want to see The Troopers become is to begin to morph into something that they clearly are not, in order to hope to place a few places higher in DCI. That would be sad, and could potentially lead to their disappearance. Those that tell us they " value diversity " should hope that The Troopers can recruit better staff and MM talent.... and retain and return a solid nucleus of former marchers each season. But isn't this what we wish for all the non G7 Corps as well ? The Troopers are entertaining most fans, most years. Thats a success story in itself, imo. If DCI ever lost The Troopers, that would be DCI's loss, and the fans loss. It would be a huge loss, as the Troopers are a Founding Member Corps of DCI. Yes, there are things they can do to improve their placements, but lets all hope that the facelift some here are suggesting for The Troopers doesn't become what quite a few aging, narcissistic, Hollywood celebs do to themselves in expensive plastic surgery as a new bodily makeover that regrettably becomes in the end for them something unsightly, ghastly, and horrifying in appearance.

From part I (emphasis mine) My freshmen year of high school, one of the graduating seniors had what I thought was the coolest jacket ever. It was his Impulse Drum and Bugle Corps member jacket. I remember thinking to myself how awesome it looked, and how much I wanted to march in the summer. At the time I was a saxophone player and never played anything but sax. I knew that it was something that I wanted to do, so the summer going into my sophomore year I learned baritone so that I could march baritone for fall season as well as what would eventually be my first season of drum corps. I was only fifteen and had no idea what to expect, but I loved it! HOPKINS....ARE YOU LISTENING HERE????

Frank, thanks for the compliment. I can still remember when I, at the age of 10 or 11, I listened to the most noteable trumpet player of that time, Harry James. I tried my best to emulate his style of playing, plus I liked his first name.....lol. In my later years, my idols were Rafael Mendez, Doc Severinsen and Maynard Ferguson. Needless to say, I never reached the talent level of any of these wonderful players, but I certainly set my goals high.

I'm thinking Troopers should bust out a Bartok show next year and shut everybody up.

How a kid learns to become a drum corps soloist, c. 1960s: 1. Get all of Harry Hazelwood's* recordings 2. Spend hours a day trying to sound like that, even though you will fail. *substitute Martin, Hightower, D'Amico, Angelica, Swan, Petersen, Sasso (both), Simpson...etc., and repeat the process endlessly. You will still fail, but you will be moving inexorably in the right direction.

Amen Frank...PREACH! Of course I NEVER respond to comments on here. Dan

The title of this thread makes it sound like you're asking which corps has the most druggies. (Seriously.)

Not for nothing, but if you enjoy the original version, you should check out Vienna Teng on Spotify (or your music provider of choice). If you dig her stuff, consider buying something. It can't hurt for our community to show some financial love to the folks who graciously allow our groups to play their stuff, especially when they are smaller acts. I know that I will probably buy her album Aims (the one with Hymn), mainly because I enjoy this style of music. A bit different from what you hear on the radio, which is right up my alley.

lots of suspensions .

I predict Saturday Frank will see me in the stands and nod

Me and Roman B. may be the only people that like Pioneer's Marine hats. I think it gives them a sharp, clean look. Mike

I'm not a Crossmen Homer, but I am a San Antonio native, and therefore root hard for the Crossmen. Now, with that said. I"m not too disappointed to see Mr. Naffier go. While I'm glad Crossmen made finals this year, I wish it was with a show I was more in love with (musically). Now I know this is just me, but since last year, I haven't played back "Protest" not once. I don't see myself doing so for "Alma Gitana"...and I've only done so a handful of times with 2012's "Fragile" and usually just the first half of the show. **I did however love everyting about "Renewal". So again, this is just me and I realize I have different tastes than everyone else, but I'm excited to see where Crossmen go from here.

One of the finest people I've ever met. Always with a smile, a handshake, and a friendly greeting. May he rest in peace.

With the exception of the Empire Statesmen in 2006.... about three tenths behind Bucs at Prelims and Finals... and about eight tenths back at the Wildwood show show in 2006, and again at the Bucs' August shows in 2006 and 2010. I would say those spreads were reasonably close. LOL

My " 10 favorite drum Corps shows of all time" changes daily,... if not, by the hour.

When they were a powerhouse in the 60s and early 70s, their rep included Broadway show tunes, pop tunes, and lots of other things besides overtly western/cowboy music. When they did the obvious stuff, they often had a sense of humor about it. Whoever arranged the operatic "Yellow Rose of Texas" in '74 was onto something.

I'd like the Troopers to know that I would be open to absolutely any programming choices they wish to present. I think they should have that freedom.

Cookie was in my 3 man squad, both 67 and 68 and he was just that, amazing. We were two leads and both years had a 1st. sop sandwiched in between us. Cookie made us both better players. Am. In Paris was 68 and he brought sweetness to that solo. Aside from me, we had a pretty talented 12 man lead line then and I believe there was only one other that could have put that kind of stamp on that solo and I think most here know who that is. John Sasso made a good choice on that one.

Also, I could see Markworth ending up at Scouts. With Sparling taking over, and the two of them having worked together for a while, I could see Sparling wanting to bring him in.

Thanks for the great comments guys! Here is Part III of my interview with Sal Hernandez. Today he talks about "old school vs new school" drum corps, Blue Devils shows of the past, electronics/amplification, and our very own Drum Corps Planet! An Interview with Sal Hernandez of the World Champion Concord Blue Devils - Part III Thanks for reading everyone! Let us know what you think!

Really liked Crossmen's new uniforms!!!

Thanks for the kind words of the Skyliners show and of me personally. I'm having a blast with this endeavor and the corps looks forward to bringing the house down in Rochester in under two weeks.

I'm begging and pleading with the Blue Devils to go retro and give us a "hybrid" old school / new school show with OS traditional jazz, the OS uniform, no props and no artsy fartsy BS, just old school music combined with new school up tempo drill. Do F-Tuning for the pre-show. Theme the show as "Past and Present......The Old meets the New." :thumbup:

The best headgear : http://hybridtechcar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/1394091657_00112.jpg

Bluecoats color guard uniforms...very cool...helped create "orange is the new blue."

Neither do I. Comparing scores from different shows on the same night in the same year is silly. Comparing scores from different years among Corps is beyond silly. But.... there is no harm it seems to me in do silly things, provided it doesn't hurt other people, scare the animals, or cause my taxes to go up.

I started buying Fleetwood Records almost as soon as I started marching (in 1960). By the time I hit HS in 1965 they sold them in the record store at the Hempstead Bus Station in Hempstead LINY. For a buck! $1 records back in the "Marching Band" section. So I grew up listening to the likes of Martin, Swan, Dorritie (him I heard live at the Pit as well) and Harry Hazlewood. When I was 16 our "Bugle Instructor" - one Robert Bunce - disappeared and was not heard from for months. At that point the Legionnaires turned the horns over to me, which if you think about it now had to be a huge mistake - no 16 year old is ready to take over a horn-line full of his best friends and teach it. But to make an already wandering story less long, I'm at a LI Circuit show that summer, representing my corps after the show - we didn't have the sort of Bread and Circuses critiques that came along later. I went to introduce myself to the brass judge, a serious looking young man (older than I, but not all that much - a decade maybe) and read his name tag - Harry Hazlewood. I know the idea of my being speechless is probably hard for most of you to process, but I sat there stammering. Pretty sure I said "THE Harry Hazlewood?" sorta like "THE Lyndon Johnson?" or "THE Mahatma Ghandi?" Serious guy, but he cracked some part of a smile. His advice? "Get them to play better." God knows I tried. Could never get the big buck teethed baritone to play very well though... Lost cause...

When first hearing "Hymn of Axciom", did anyone else recognize it's similarity to the old "There's a hole in the bucket" skit from (old school) Sesame Street? Classic Sesame Street - Song: "There's a Hole in the Bucket"http://youtu.be/zYY6Q4nRTS4

Don't judges also have a policy in place regarding their posting here on DCp even if they are polite in speaking their minds?

By the looks of the numbers that have auditioned the past few years, the numbers of the program and the amount of kids that still want to be a part of the tradition of the Troopers.....i.e., playing American Music, the "old style" or still original look of the corps, the history, etc..... their is something to be said about the way they have kept to their traditions through all the changes drum corps has taken over the past 20 years or so. Something that I noticed this past year was that the staff and design team are continuing to develop the program to move forward....All sections are improving.....I would suggest it is hard to say that the corps is a "museum piece" unless you are within the corps, have been around the corps and really know what it means to the kids to be a Trooper!!

a corps facebook page is for the faithful to swallow the sermon.

I don't think it has anything to do with being written first. Its about integration between the sections. Crown has a poor blend and balance between the brass writing and the percussion writing. Anyone can clearly see the focus is put on Crown's horn line through the majority of the show and percussion moments are just the spots in between the horn line showing off how many notes they can play. BD does it right with Dave Glyde scoring out the integration between the brass and percussion for the entire show. BD should be the road map for how a music coordinator designs a show.

I think Bluecoats' helmets are pretty #### stylish. I like how the curves and edges are sharper and a little more exaggerated than your normal helmet like Phantom's.

The age of the individual compositions has nothing to do with it. It is their frequency with which they appeared at certain times in DCI history that gives them the stigma of "dated." Compare and contrast (Junior corps statistics only, minus U.S. Military corps)... -- Shenandoah http://www.corpsreps.com/corpsreps.cfm?view=SongSrch&Song=Shenandoah%20 Corpsreps entries, pre-1984: 29 Corpsreps entries, 1984-present: 6 -- America the Beautiful http://www.corpsreps.com/corpsreps.cfm?view=SongSrch&Song=America%20The%20Beautiful Corpsreps entries, pre-1984: 33 Corpsreps entries, 1984-present: 15 Against... -- Swan Lake http://www.corpsreps.com/corpsreps.cfm?view=SongSrch&Song=Swan%20Lake Corpsreps entries, pre-1984: 10 Corpsreps entries, 1984-present: 6 -- Scheherazade http://www.corpsreps.com/corpsreps.cfm?view=SongSrch&Song=Scheherazade Corpsreps entries, pre-1984: 7 Corpsreps entries, 1984-present: 4 For a long time, competitive drum corps was very attached to historical, patriotic, and "folksy" music (or jazz). Many, many corps performed these songs year after year. It wasn't really until the late 70s/early 80s that corps started truly exploring other venues, and getting really adventurous in trying to create "high-brow" shows and using music that not everyone knew about. Could "Shenandoah" or "America the Beautiful" be used effectively in a modern DCI show? Sure, but it would be REALLY tricky because, like it or not, those two pieces (and many others) carry with them the weight of drum corps history. Robert Smith is well aware of that history. My personal opinion, the show didn't work because the arrangers couldn't choose between "NOW" and "THEN" when designing the show. Most of the show is written in the "NOW," but when they needed a big impact (too often) they yielded to cloying sentimentality and brought forth the ghosts of "THEN" to tug at the audiences heart strings. For those very fond of THEN, the show works. Me, I felt the two styles clashed and were not blended together effectively.

Honestly I think they put forward some great shows! Whoever says they are old and hokey hasn't seen a Troopers show. They blend classic/traditional themes and style with the modern drum corps style in a very nice way.

Not agreeing with guard. The guard has been really improving in the last few years. I think AS does a great job.

Forgot to ask you by the deadline, but borrowed your idea/style and tried my own hand.

Phantom Regiment 1989. I keep looking back at that show and don't understand how SCV won. (I personally love SCV 1989, much more than SCV 1988, but I still think PR had the more solid show that year).

So by this logic, a piano would be considered a valid percussion instrument, but a harpsichord would not be (because the strings of a harpsichord are plucked, rather than hammered). This of course explains the shocking lack of harpsichord and related baroque repertoire in drum corps today. The lesson here is: tis better to be hammered than to be plucked.

I swear......had Regiment, coats, crown, or maybe another had scored a 99.65 this discussion would be opposite and the sheets I think would be deemed appropriate. 14 BD was killer, 02 Rosemont was killer, 94 BD killer, 05 cadets killer, the list goes on. Every year devils dominate there is a million critics that disagree. Maybe a record number of championships (16) and horn titles should be debated next. I'd like to debate the '08 Phantom title. BD got a 19.95 visual score if I'm correct. Their drum line got killed in 5th , but let's say they were not maxed at that 20 in visual 1.........08 would be a devils title. Their marching was in a different league than Regiment. SO, these great scores....get over the system or give BD an 08 ring. That 20.5 or lowering phantom's score due to being less proficient than thought and in comparison to the follow up changes things greatly. (08 Regiment, which as stated awesome entertaining musical) That change would leave BD with one more ring and Phantom one less. Food for thought on a VERY clean moving 08 group. I guess the system doesn't work well when BD sweeps yet again. Personally I'd like to see Scouts sweep but......we will keep hoping. I say we give the judges room, I have a feeling 08 would have ended differently despite the WGI theater show BD would have been laughed at with. (Granted not their style. Not pushing the envelope and not very cerebral. Regiment was good that year.) Great entertaining show but very WGI I guess only a problem with BD. Where were all these arguments then? Yes, I'm that guy. Just give a well approached response..........I'm open to it. If I was a Blue Devil in '15 I would make a point to repeat just to set off DCP again.

Blue Devils 2015 present........Romeroesque.........

It'd be an...interesting season if I got to choose Blue Devils = E=MCEinstein was wrong. Cadets = Sovetisky Soyuz - A Soviet Promise Blue Devils B = Felliniesque Blue Devils C = Noir (nuvo) The Cavaliers = the Celebrity Freemason Vampire